folk festival

I was able to attend the Mission Folk Music Festival with some friends yesterday. It was held in Mission, about an hour's drive away. It's a city on the far east of Vancouver (I think). Anyway, it was my first time to drive in a highway! Hindi ko alam san ko kinuha ang lakas ng loob para magdrive sa isang highway dito.

So the Mission Folk Music Festival is a yearly festival that's been running for over 21 years. It's a weekend event and people go there just to relax and see different acts perform. Some even stay there for camping. I don't have pictures as I don't have any camera here, but one of my friend did bring his camera. Check it out here.

They setup the festival in such a way that there are three small stages, and one main stage. The main stage opens after 5:30 pm I think, but the small stages play a lot of different acts from noon time until main stage opens.

What's interesting about this event, for me that is, is that it's the first time I saw these people, gather in this park, and they are all so relaxed. They just bring their chairs, blankets, and watch. Some are even barefooted! The place is nice, weather is cool, and the people who attend it are really followers of the event. I even got to talk to a lady, who has been attending the event for almost 20 years. Then there's this other lady that has been volunteering for over 17 years already. This event is part of their lives.

In terms of the shows itself, I really enjoyed one act I was able to watch. It's a body percussion type of show, where there were three groups and 1 guy, who made music by just doing various sounds, using as simple as clapping and stopping, and voice blending. It was pretty nice. And the other guy, he can beat box and play so many different sounds.

All in all, this event goes down to my experience memories as one of the most interesting experiences I've had so far. It was a what I can call, a breath of fresh air.

bleed

naisama ko yung isang super dark jeans ko sa isang set of labada ko.
Nag bleed. Buti na lang ang apektado yung isang shirt lang, at isang kitchen na pamunas. The rest mga medyas lang at yung iba dark naman. Hayy

Living alone for a month

Starting tomorrow morning, I will be living all alone, by myself at my aunt's place here in Vancouver. The Ng Family is having a great big reunion in the Philippines this weekend and they're leaving tonight. Bad timing since I will be the only one who'll be missing the great reunion. Everyone from Canada is going to the Philippines to celebrate our Grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. Oh well. It's sad. But I just try to look at it at a different perspective - that I get to live alone for a month, which will be a great learning experience for me.

In fact, being here for a couple of weeks, I already learned how to wash my clothes, learned how to cook rice, clean the house, etc. In the Philippines, I don't do household chores. But here, I'm doing all those things! Hard, but it's something I believe any person should eventually learn.

My aunts have prepared a lot of stuff, food and everything for me. I think majority of them (and my mother, especially) are worried that I am left alone there. I don't know why I'm not that worried. Maybe it's just that I am excited because it's the first time I'll be doing that.

Earlier, they also let me drive their car, as practice. Since I would have to bring my cousin to the airport for her flight back to Toronto (she'll be going to the Philippines as well for just 10 days, then back here in Vancouver, then to Toronto where she lives). I can't pick her up as I have work the day she arrives.

Driving here is different. It's easier, but you can't drive "Manila" style here. You'd have to give way. People have right of way, and buses as well. So if there's a pedestrian, you better stop, unlike in the Philippines. Here, when they have a three lane road, it's three lane, and that's it! Although they told me I can use the card while they're away. But I think I'd rather not. Commuting here is easy and simple anyway.

Sight seeing again...

While a lot of people opted to go to Victoria for one saturday, 4 of us went instead to Stanley Park since we wanted to catch Tall Ships Event at Victoria the following weekend. Stanley Park is a huge piece of land by the bay that is just so beautiful. You can walk around it, but it'll take you hours, or you could go ride the free shuttle (only for the summer) which will take you about 45 minutes to get around. But you have to stop at various stop points so that you can see the view, hang out, have picnics, etc.



Afterwards, we dropped by Burrard Street to check out some nice city sights. Burrard street is part of the downtown Vancouver area. My friend wanted to see it as it reminded him of Passeo in Makati. And so we did. And we even saw one Lamborghini parked just by the street! Practically every person who walked by it looked at it, or even took a picture of it. It was beautiful.



The following weekend, Tall Ships Victoria naman. Victoria is just so beautiful. I'll reserve that for another post later on.

My first encouter with Mac Book Air

One of our officemates went to Best Buy earlier to buy himself a new laptop!!! Laptops here are very very cheap! If I didn't have one already, I probably would've bought one. Anyway, while looking around, I found this:



Mac Book Air is so thin, you're almost afraid to just place it anywhere. I think it's gonna crack if you accidentally sit on it! But it really looks pretty. It costs around 1900 CAD, a bit pricey, but specs are really good. Although, I don't think I'm going to buy one, nevertheless, it still looks really really pretty.

welcome to vancouver

I've finally arrived in Vancouver, Canada. This is my first trip outside of the country and my first trip alone on a plane! Travel time was around 11+ hours, a direct flight through PAL. Since I was late checking in, I had no other choice but to sit in the middle, between a lady on her thirties, and a grandmother aged around 80. We ended up talking and getting to know each other. The lady there is on her way to Ottawa to start a new life as an immigrant. She had to leave her husband and son in the Philippines (but will soon follow anyway). On the other hand, the old lady's on her way back to the US. She's been there for 30+ years and she and her husband just goes to the Philippines for vacation every now and then.

Anyway, here's a nice picture I took of Vancouver's beautiful airport:



So far, my aunt has shown me a couple of places to go to like supermarkets, etc. I can't grasp all of them anyway. I can't remember what route she took and all.

Vancouver is clean, has wide roads, and is such a nice and quite place to live in. The weather has also been cooperating. It's pretty much summer time here already. Although sun's rays' pretty hot, the breeze on the other hand is very cool. Unlike in the Philippines, mainit na ang araw, and humid pa. Lots of Asians here as well. More than the whites, I think.

Anyway, it's 1:30 am right now. Can't really sleep. Getting a slight headache.

Tomorrow's my first day at work and it will be the first time that I'll be taking their bus (sana d ako mawala!). Hope everything goes smoothly.

Geeky article

Here's an article from Coding Horror that talks about the greatest invention (according to the author) about computer science (aside from the computer itself). Check the site here.